Hi my name is Dave Flitman and I’m a volunteer and Director of Projects at the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Foodbank (EPFHFB).
EPFHFB is the youngest food bank in the nation and the only food bank serving El Paso. We partner with Feeding America the leading organization alleviating food insecurity in America. Government statistics indicate there are over 200,000 people with food insecurity in our community… 1 in 3 children go to bed hungry! El Paso is the fourth poorest city in Texas and 23% of our population lives below the national poverty level. In operation for only the past 5 years, EPFHFB delivered over 30 million lbs. of food in 2019 to those most in need in El Paso, Hudspeth and Culberson counties. This was double our shipments made in 2018! Our warehouse is located at 9541 Plaza Circle, not far from the Zaragoza International Bridge.
So, what is a food bank and what do we do?
EPFHFB is a nonprofit organization providing food at no cost to our partner agencies. Our local network includes over 130 food pantries where the food is distributed to those in need in our community. In areas where a partner food pantry is not available, we provide a weekly or monthly mobile “pop-up” pantry where our employees and volunteers partner with a local school or house of worship to distribute food to those in need. Further in 2019 we actively participated in supplying food and water for local crisis’s including the expanded migrant issue where more than 1000 migrants were released daily in our community, and the August 3rd Walmart tragedy. In addition to distribution of food, we supply nutrition and food safety education.
The Food bank obtains donated food from many sources, including the Federal Government; Manufacturers such as Kelloggs; Produce Cooperatives; Bakeries such as Bimbos; Grocery stores including Walmart, Albertsons and Sprouts; and Warehouse outlets such as Sam’s Club and Costco. This food is generally available as it nears expiration dates and/or via over production or excess stock. We also obtain food through Government Programs such as SNAP, CSFP, Trade Mitigation and the National School Lunch Program. We use a fleet of trucks to collect and distribute the donated food.
Our 16,000 volunteers assist our work force in sorting food to ensure it is safe to consume. In addition volunteers prepare monthly food packages for nearly 3000 at risk senior citizens and help distribute food at our mobile pantries. Volunteers are welcome Monday through Saturday at our warehouse, just call our main number (915) 298-0353 or visit our Facebook page.
The food bank only exists because of our generous donors that include local benefactors, corporate and private foundations, the federal government and our partner food pantry agencies. We are proud that 97% of these funds go directly to those in need and only 3% is used to pay for our overhead. Lastly for every dollar donated we return 7 dollars in food for our community. All Non-Profit Agencies are very important to our community but you would be hard pressed to find another that touches so many lives in our community, because no one should go hungry!